A group of students from the Coronado Unified School district, heart-broken by the termination of a special education counselor due to budget cuts, hand-delivered cash in a clear plastic bag to district board members last week, begging them not to release counselor Rebecca Rabe.
“Please do not get mad at us, and even if you do, we beg you to keep Ms. Rabe she is my dog group teacher and some people’s only safe place in school,” read a quote from a slideshow prepared by students.
The presentation by Coronado Middle School students at a May 16 school board meeting culminated weeks of angst after trustees decided to balance an underfunded district budget by laying off counselors.
For the past three years, Rabe and her two canine companions, Mushu and Miso, have been an integral part of the middle school campus. The so-called Therapy Dog Program helps student members of the Agility Team at the middle school with emotional wellness and social connections through animal training.
According to Rabe, the Agility Team merges general education, special education and English and Spanish speaking students with the goal of fostering personal growth and connections.
Rabe is among eight district employee positions being terminated due to budget cuts prompted by shrinking enrollment and a reduction in state education funding.
In response to the plea from students – as well as some teachers and parents – school board members became visibly emotional.
While the students begged the district to keep Rabe and the dogs, some wiped their eyes while everyone listened to the perspectives being shared.
“When you spoke from the heart, it was so valuable and real,” Trustee Whitney Antrim told the students. “I heard every single one of you and I’m so grateful.”
Nevertheless, Maria Simon, the school district public information officer, said at this point there is no way to reverse the decision to lay off this counselor role.
Ending program
Days before the school board meeting, Rabe and the Agility Team at the middle school laid out blue and yellow obstacle course equipment for the last time during a campus tour for current fifth-grade students touring the campus.
One stop in the tour was a team presentation of the year-long training with the dogs.
“We’ve worked on building and practicing elements of this course for the whole year,” said Rabe about the agility course presentation that took place May 10, the last one for the program.
Rabe, a clinical counselor for 25 years, said the canine therapy program benefits all students on campus in different ways.
Rabe said that since her first year, the Therapy Dog Program has served 47 students spread across 10 groups.
According to her program’s guidebook, Rabe’s mission is to support the holistic development of each child including “self-esteem, develop the ability to regulate emotions, improve verbal and non-verbal communication, and foster connections among peers, teachers and staff.”
“There’s a lot of peer cooperation, a lot of trust,” said Rabe about the Agility groups. “We’re teaching all these skills that they get to practice on with the dog, but then it gets translated into their classroom, into their home life, into their community life with their friends.”
Rabe said the administration, teachers and district staff have been supportive and she believes everyone recognizes that there is going to be a loss for next year.
“One of the parting gifts I got from the teachers was an incredible letter of recommendation that every single teacher signed in being able to support me trying to find a new position,” said Rabe. “I get a little choked up because I have never experienced that before…I think it just shows that there’s a lot of support behind me and the program and what I do…it just is really unfortunate about the budget that’s not in anybody’s control.”
A cherished counselor
During the school board meeting, teachers, parents and students warned the board that layoffs and employee pay disputes are undercutting the quality of education in Coronado.
Gisele Renly, an educator at Silver Strand Elementary School who was honored last month with one of the district’s teacher-of-the-year awards, raised her concern for staff’s ability to afford basic needs in San Diego, the district’s ability to retain quality teachers and students’ mental health during public comment.
“I love teaching,” said Renly. “If CUSD wants to retain quality teachers, we need to know that we’re valued. Our community deserves better.”
Students lined the podium to describe their counseling experiences with Rabe and the therapy dogs.
“All the students love Miso and Mushu,” said middle school student Bryson Sebring. “I used to be really shy back in sixth grade…Ms. Rabe invited us to the dog program and we joined and after doing the dog program I was way more social.”
“I’m worried about the staffing cuts…You cannot easily replace people who are masters at their craft, as Ms. Rabe is,” Regina Sebring, Bryson’s mom, told The Coronado News. “I’m proud of the kids for standing up for the adults who mean so much to them…The kids understand the lesson here, that you should put people first. I hope the school board can see that lesson too.”
And the students offering the district money to help save the program they have grown to love is not the first time.
According to Rabe, the counselor, kids have offered their allowance and asked if fundraisers can help.
“I had a couple of students run a lemonade stand and offer me $200 like ‘Is this enough to save your job?’…It’s very sweet. It’s very innocent,” said Rabe. “When they said, ‘Well, how much do you need?’ And I’m like ‘Millions’ And then their eyes get really big…I had some kids say, ‘Oh, that’s a lot of lemonade’…I think that’s been the hard part.”
Budget cuts
In Gov. Gavin Newsom’s budget for next year, the school district identified a $2.3 million budget deficit that prompted reductions in staffing in March and further cuts to various programs and services.
CUSD officials said the funding shortfall stems from the exhaustion of one-time COVID monies, decreased state revenues and declining enrollment.
“We currently have $20.1 million in reserves and we’re very quickly spending that down because we’re spending more than we’re bringing in each year,” Deputy Superintendent Donnie Salamanca told the board on May 16.
According to Simon, Rabe’s job position had the least seniority, which is why it was among those eliminated.
However, budget cuts directly impact students who have benefitted from her services over the course of more than one academic year.
Since March, district leaders have expressed confidence that high-quality school programs will continue with minimal disruption for students and staff.
“Rest assured that even after these layoffs, that CUSD is adequately staffed and fully prepared to meet the needs of our students with special needs,” said Salamanca in a written statement.
Rabe said she is not looking forward to termination, but she is hopeful about the district’s flexibility accommodating the absence of Mushu and Miso.
“People will recognize the dogs before they see me…They’re like, ‘Oh, those are the therapy dogs at the middle school’,” she noted. “It’s not just saying goodbye to 50 kids, it’s saying goodbye to 600-plus kids and their parents and all the teachers and all the community members.”
